SOUND RECORDING AND VIDEO PRODUCTION

CREATION VERSUS CONSUMPTION OF CONTENT

Pear Tree Community students utilize videos and music to tell their own stories. Instead of just being consumers of content created by others, Pear Tree students are taught the fundamentals of video production, including lighting, cinematography, editing and sound design to make their own video journals and documentaries. Our music program and sound recording class allows students to make their own songs originating from the songwriting stage and ending with a final mix. 

Final projects are showcased at public screenings and performances. 

ON-SITE ART, MUSIC, DANCE, SPANISH AND TECHNOLOGY LESSONS / ACTIVITIES

IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE PEOPLE'S CONSERVATORY

YOGA: Students will learn yoga forms, participate in exercises to stretch and connect with their bodies. Children will also learn to lead yoga by implementing facilitation and leadership skills. 

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GARDENING & CULINARY: Students will participate in gardening activities connected to their botany studies. Students will “green up” the space, plant edible plants and herbs and support our menu. In culinary, students will learn about describing taste and applying this palate description to the creation of foods. Students will utilize basic math in measuring and will contribute to the community. 

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WRITER’S WORKSHOP: Students will participate in a variety of projects connected to art and expression that practice phonetic writing. They will use other writing forms, including sentence structure and paragraph writing. 

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CAPOEIRA: Students will practice the Capoeira Martial Art. The focus is to support small and large motor development, community, teamwork and body control. Students will also learn songs in multiple languages using basic rhythmic instruments and music performances. 

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SPANISH: Students will explore Spanish vocabulary, conversational Spanish, phonetic alphabet mastery, verb conjugation and translation through music, art and games. 

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MUSIC: Students will explore music and rhythm. They will apply patterns and letters to music and sound in preparation for music theory. 

CURRICULUM-BASED FIELD TRIPS

Excursions to Emphasize Classroom Learning

Every classroom engages in off site learning opportunities.  These field trips are aligned to current curriculum and offer hands-on immersive experiences for students to reinforce classroom themes.  Recent destinations include The Chabot Space and Science Center, The Oakland Museum, The DeYoung Museum in San Francisco, UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, and San Jose's Egyptian Museum.  Parents are welcome to accompany the class as a way to engage in their children's learning and the class community. 

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All students in California study US History beginning at 4th grade. Pear Tree Coummunity School's program is VERY different. We explore US History through the study of the resistance, survival, and cultural contributions of oppressed people. This includes three educational journeys that are connected to units of study. There is one educational journey per year. All of these journeys are connected to deep units of study.

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Our first of the three journeys will begin in Hawaii. We have chosen to begin with Hawaii because it is one of the US’s most recent examples of colonization, and will be a strong case study to support an understanding of external invasion of land for primary resources by corporate driven forces, forced labor, and the recent oppressive strategies of cultural irradication - where language and cultural practices were made illegal.